Thread: Mortise Pal is on its way.....

Originally Posted by Gwhat

G'day

Just to let you know that we have been appointed the Australian & New Zealand agents for Mortise Pal. It is one of the simplest but accurate methods of creating mortises and for those of us that have been lusting for one Mr Festool's Domino machines, it uses Domino's as well as shop made tenons.

See the demo here

The new model will have up to 76mm stock capacity and will be available in 3 weeks.

Regards

Grahame

Grahame,

After watching the video and reading a few reviews, this looks very easy and precise. Have you set your pricing yet?

Also, is it possible to use this on stock with thicknesses in excess of 50mm?

Cheers,
Nathan.

Hi

We decided to wait a week and get the new MkII version that will handle up to 76mm wide stock. The initial pricing looks to be mid $300's as a kit.

It is certainly a great bit of kit, being compatible with Dominos is the 'icing on the cake'.

I will post when the stock arrives.

Regards

Grahame

Just in case anyone is wondering - they are in, and available at the Melb. Wood Show (I'm doing demos on them) Price (from memory) is $365. You can tell the Mk2 as it is now black anodised aluminium fwiw.

I have a few actual, genuine Festool Dominos to prove they fit, as well as some equivalent ones from Carbatec.

Will be doing my own video sometime soon. I've started using it in some projects already - sure beats biscuits!

It is a great looking bit of kit, I have wondering what would the cheaper "Domino" look like.
If I didn't already have the Domino I would buy this
les

How much is a Domino?

$365 seems a little expensive for a jig, more than the majority of routers that would be used with it.

A great idea and a good looking product none the less.

Is it possible to purchase a router bit to make your own tenon stock?

Originally Posted by Jack E

How much is a Domino?

$1657 inc systainers and initial systainer of dominos

Originally Posted by Jack E

$365 seems a little expensive for a jig, more than the majority of routers that would be used with it.

Perhaps, but compare it to the domino.......

Also too, a router may be $300ish (+/- $100), but that is not the majority cost of the tool. I've got 10x that in router bits, and see them as the real tool, rather than the thing that spins them. This can be taken in that same context. Each of my larger router bits is 1/3 the cost of the router!

Originally Posted by Jack E

A great idea and a good looking product none the less.

Is it possible to purchase a router bit to make your own tenon stock?

I found it very easy to use, and have already used it in my first project. Sure, I'd love a domino, but until I can afford one, I'll stick with this. Won't be going back to biscuits any time soon!

Re tenon stock - don't see why not. Just need a 1/2 round bit with diameter to match the router bit you are using to cut the mortise. 8mm is pretty common, but if you are making your own, you are not restricted. Also too, if making your own you can make one up to 2" wide, which is the maximum that the Mortise Pal can cut (in one pass that is). Not sure what the Domino can do max 1 pass... Of course, both will allow you to shuffle along and keep enlarging the slot as long as required.

So money not being an issue, and presuming you don't need to buy domino's (can you make your own?), would anybody buy this, or is the domino that much better / versatile?

We've got a domino machine at the community shed & they kick ass. The dominos arn't that expensive that i would ever bother making my own. Also they're designed like biscuts in that they swell when they get wet making a joint that can take some pretty serious pressure. The ease of use is a pure dream, just line it up on marks u've made & the machine cuts the slot.
Kind of depends on weather u like making mortice & tennons or not, or have the time to do them.
They are defenately worth the high price tag. 1 very handy tool to have in the shop.
Having said that i won't be getting 1 for quite a while, money is an issue, lol. Lucky i like motice & tennons plus i can always use the shed 1.

At risk of being branded biased here, but FWIW:

Fessup - I own a Domino and I have only seen the Mortise Pal briefly at the Melb WWW Show.

The MP is well made. It can also do dowels. If you have a router it lets you make mortises fairly quickly. It seemed to me to be a variation on the dowelmax concept. both are well made and easy to use. Given the choice between buying a Domino and the MP I'd go with the Domino again (for my circumstances, mainly time is the deciding factor).

When getting started the MP would be an attractive option for a lot of woodies. It is well finished and strong.

Originally Posted by Rattrap

The dominos arn't that expensive that i would ever bother making my own. Also they're designed like biscuts in that they swell when they get wet making a joint that can take some pretty serious pressure.

Ahh, I wasn't aware they were like a biscuit which swelled providing strength.
Surely it would be a pretty strong just using a hard wood as the tenon.

I wonder how long until a cheaper knock of off the domi appears.

It happened with the biscuit jointer.

Originally Posted by Jack E

Ahh, I wasn't aware they were like a biscuit which swelled providing strength.
Surely it would be a pretty strong just using a hard wood as the tenon.

I wonder how long until a cheaper knock of off the domi appears.

It happened with the biscuit jointer.

At the demo at the WWS they said that the dominoes were a tight fit and made of hardwood and that they did not swell up like the biscuits.

Peter.

As Peter says - they are not designed to swell like biscuits, which start off life actually being compressed for that reason.

However the domino will absorb moisture from the glue and swell, but I'm guessing that is only temporary once the moisture dissipates, the domino will roughly shrink back to its nominal size. The biscuit on the other hand, starting off compressed, once uncompressed with moisture will not return to original compressed size, providing a permanent extra mechanical strength to the joint than if it was made from uncompressed material. That is not to say it is stronger than a domino, which is obviously much thicker material, but at least stronger than an uncompressed version of itself.

my mistake. They felt a bit like a denser ver of the biscut so thought they acted similarly.

Yeah, I knew how biscuits worked, I din't think domino's were the same, seems I was right